Almost stretched to full length, ready to forge the fullers and bevels!

And here's the weekly forge update:

The Oxtail Dao has begun!

Currently I have completed making a channel out of 5160 spring steel, to become the sheath which wraps around the blade, and makes up the spring steel back and side material for the sword.  now to grind the inside, cut the O1 tool steel to length and set up for the weld!

Here is the finished Damascus hunter

5160/W1, Moose Antler Handle

Nickname: The Nutcracker

Here Is an update to where things are:

The Solar Forge is now operational.

San-Mai and Damascus are off the checklist of welding experience.

My first sword job has begun, A Chinese Oxtail Dao.  I'll keep a more regular posts as I go through the steps of fabricating a sword with hand tools only.  I'll solar forge what I can, but will still use propane for the heat treatment process for more stable, quality results.

here is a recent chef knife, and an in progress hunting knife.

Here is the Damascus after a quick acid etch.  I opted for not using muratic acid or ferric chloride (obvious reasons) and got a decent etch with lemon juice.  It has a beeswax rosin (tree sap) finish for a protective coating on the blade.

the hamon came out nicely, (differential hardening).  As you can see the Rockwell hardness is much higher on the cutting edge, hence the acid had little effect on it.  Unfortunately oil doesn't give quite as sharp a pattern.  Time to fit the hand guard and handle!!

Next set of exciting news, it looks like I can use a Fresnel lens to heat my metal.  I am also working on getting a build for an induction forge.  I will eventually run it off a solar panel.  In the meantime the Fresnel lens I'll use as much as I can in the daytime.  However, certain finalizing processes such as quenching I will most likely do via propane forge.

The horsetails are in, so its time to try a new blade coat.  I will be attempting a mimic at Japanese styles of using straw ash.  Both of these are very high in silicone.  Then coated in a clay slurry.  This is to reduce the amount of carbon lost during the forging process.

Old workings and progression

Here are a few of my older pieces.  They are definitely not as nice as some of my newer stuff, however I have it up as a sample of progression for a bladesmith.